NOTICE OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION

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CME-16-0539-BC-3

Effective Date

15 August 2019

FILE NO.:

CME 16-0539-BC

NON-MEMBER:

Hicham Boularbah

CME RULE VIOLATIONS:

Rule 532. Disclosing Orders Prohibited

With the exception of transactions executed in accordance with the requirements of Rule 526, 538, 539 and 549, no person shall disclose another person’s order to buy or sell except to a designated Exchange official or the CFTC, and person shall solicit or induce another person to disclose order information. An order for pit execution is not considered public until it has been bid or offered by open outcry. No person shall take action or direct another person to take action based on non-public order information, however acquired. The mere statement of opinions or indications of the price at which a market may open or resume trading does not constitute a violation of this rule.

Rule 432 General Offenses

It shall be an offense:

T. to engage in dishonorable or uncommercial conduct.

FINDINGS:

Pursuant to an offer of settlement in which Hicham Boularbah (“Boularbah”) neither admitted nor denied the Rule violations upon which the penalty is based, on August 13, 2019, a Panel of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Business Conduct Committee (“Panel”) found that on several dates in June 2016, Boularbah, a broker, acting on non-public order information from his customer, directed a broker at his clearing firm to execute trades on Globex in August 2016 and September 2016 Euro FX options strategies. Boularbah, without first obtaining the prior consent of the customer, used the average price of the Globex fills to price block trades for his customer, which allowed Boularbah’s firm to secure a portion of riskless profit. After a reach out by the Exchange, Boularbah’s firm returned its portion of the profits. The Panel thereby concluded that Boularbah violated CME Rules 532 and 432.T.

PENALTY:

In accordance with the settlement offer, the Panel ordered Boularbah to pay a fine of $60,000. The Panel also suspended Boularbah from access to any trading floor owned or controlled by CME Group and from direct and indirect access to any designated contract market, derivatives clearing organization or swap execution facility owned or controlled by CME Group for one month beginning on the effective date below and continuing through and including September 15, 2019.

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CME Group is the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace. The company is comprised of four Designated Contract Markets (DCMs). Further information on each exchange's rules and product listings can be found by clicking on the links to CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX.